Not sure about Britain, but after eating what were allegedly called "spicy chicken wings" in a Dublin pub a few years back, I am convinced that people from that region of the world have the worlds weakest digestive systems. The so called spicy wings barely tasted like they had a sweet and sour type sauce on them and the Irish felt that this constituted being called spicy.

I don't even know if the submitter intended diarrhea and vomit to be caused by the cuisine, or to be the cuisine itself. Seriously, you could tell me those guys had a traditional dish that was a horse bladder full of sheep vomit, boiled in pig diarrhea and I would probably believe you, especially if you gave it some innocuous name like "marbly custard" or "thropshirecaster pie" or whatever.

flux:I don't even know if the submitter intended diarrhea and vomit to be caused by the cuisine, or to be the cuisine itself. Seriously, you could tell me those guys had a traditional dish that was a horse bladder full of sheep vomit, boiled in pig diarrhea and I would probably believe you, especially if you gave it some innocuous name like "marbly custard" or "thropshirecaster pie" or whatever.

I got hit with it a couple weeks ago while working out of town. Spent 12 hours in the motel room on the john with the trash can between my knees. Those plastic can liners are quite strong and surprisingly leak resistant.

Had something like this two months ago. Had so much junk coming out of me I briefly passed out at home. Spouse brought me to emergency. Hospital made me wait seven hours. Passed out in the bathroom. Then they figured they'd actually better admit me (once they found the key for the bathroom... but then had to use a credit card to get the lock open as "the lock hasn't been working well for some time"). Seven litres of IV later, and additives for gravol and migraine (which developed by the time I got admitted), felt much better. Was so dehydrated they had a really hard time inserting a butterfly needle for the IV (a.k.a. kitty needle). I was off work for six days, though. After that, I was still pretty wobbly as my food and nutrition was all screwed up. Still had stomach twinges for the next three weeks.

I never knew my body could be that disgusting. Half-considered bleaching myself after the worst of it was done.

If my father had gotten that, it would have killed him. Though maybe he would have been looked after sooner and better due to extra risk factors.

A week ago, I got a letter from the hospital saying I've been randomly selected to do a survey about my experience at the hospital. Sweet revenge. (There are several other dumb things that happened there I haven't mentioned).

Ah, the Norovirus. A thing so awful that I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

You haven't lived until you've experienced your body repeatedly trying to turn itself inside out through vomiting *while* violently trying to shiat out your internal organs. And this lasts for three days. Your dreams become more akin to a lighthearted trip on Datura, nighmarish and neither sleep nor really awake, save for the times your body shrieks NOW! NOW IS THE TIME! and you find yourself vomiting into a bucket and/or rectally puking.

Then towards the end comes the flatulence. I never knew my guts could have a ceaseless five-part round where one chunk of intestine would talk to another, then another, then work counter-clockwise around my abdomen where finally the most noxious, nasty and endless farts would appear. I must have farted for a good eight hours. The kind of farting where the room had so much stink, I woke myself up. Waking up to gagging on your own fowl wind (then having to open a window in January) is a special kind of hell.

You don't want to even drink water, nor can you keep it down. The only thing that eventually took were the chocolate nutrition shakes designed for the elderly.

The kicker is you never develop an immunity. The (@*# virus can live for over seven days, and isn't easily killed by cleaning.

Why is it that food poisoning is suddenly news, or some kind of shocking event? Guess what? If you eat bad food, you get the pukes&shiats. That they've abruptly discovered WHY so many people had mysterious pukes&shiats, after years of mysterious "stomach flu" plaguing people, is nice; but anyone in food service, EMS, or ancillary jobs has known about it for eons.

It may be that these mysterious "novoviruses" are getting stronger--wouldn't surprise me, all viruses seem to be getting stronger--or simply that more people are finally reporting mysterious GI issues instead of suffering a week of painful diarrhea and self-treating; or that the rash of cruise-ship-related attacks brought it into focus; but honestly, I don't think it's such a surprising thing.

When I was a hotel medic, we used to be "allowed" to eat at the buffet every month or so, when they were cleaning the employee cafeteria. Without fail, I'd hear reports over the next day or two about people with bad diarrhea, get people asking for Immodium, etc. Never as bad as a salmonella or E. coli outbreak, but consistent. And lots of it. "You have to TELL me," I'd say to these anecdotal reports. "I need to report it to the health department if we're getting food poisoning." "Oh, it's not that bad." I bet every hotel and convention center in the country/world has anecdotes like this, and that they were early novovirus outbreaks. Oh, well, not as fun as NEW SCARY OO BAD VIRUS PANIC, right?